Dear Saints in Santa Fe and other far-off places, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. My year as Moderator of Presbytery ends this weekend at the presbytery meeting at Ghost Ranch when I give a sermon during worship on Sunday and a new moderator is installed. The outgoing Moderator gives a report to presbytery on the past year, and I share parts of it with you, in light of the wars, conflict, division, and pain in our world. The Beloved Community.  It was never quite announced as presbytery’s official vision this year but in everything we did together, the Beloved Community was there.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe and other far-off places, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who sought to break the cycles of violence and injustice. These are tough times for growing the Beloved Community. The now week-long war between Hamas and Israel is yet another reminder of humanity’s horrifying inhumanity to each other.  The world is not at a loss for words, everyone seems to have an opinion, but the loudest voices seem bent on exacting more violence where even more people will suffer and be killed. I was in a conversation with a rabbi earlier this week...